As Shane Battier left Monday's practice with a stomach flu, teammates could not let him leave the floor without their own diagnosis.

They did not quite accuse him of the first case of McGrady-itis suffered in years, but they did suggest that Battier needed to get ready for Tracy McGrady's first game in Toyota Center since the Rockets traded him to New York last February.

Last season, when the Pistons and Rockets were locked in a tight game at Toyota Center, McGrady was greeted with a standing ovation when he came off the Rockets' bench for the first time that season for an eight-minute first-half stint.

'Just another game'

He is still playing about eight minutes at a time and said he is still struggling to "adapt" and get in "game shape" following his March 2009 microfracture surgery. But tonight, when he takes the floor, McGrady will do so as a Piston after signing a one-year, $1.35 million free-agent contract with Detroit.

It is considerably less certain how he will be greeted compared to the previous meeting between the Pistons and Rockets.

McGrady said Monday "it feels good to be back home," but did not know or care how he will be received."

"I don't have no opinion, no suggestion at all," McGrady said. "Just another game on the schedule."

He described his tenure in Houston as "Great times, bad times, ups and downs, injuries. Definitely have some good memories; the 22-game win streak as a team, what I did individually against San Antonio."

Asked if he had any regrets, McGrady said, "About what?"

McGrady hoped Yao Ming would be returning from his ankle injury, but Yao did not practice on Monday and is still out. He did, however, say he looked forward to seeing his teammates of six seasons.

"He went through a very tough time during his injury," Yao said. "I understand totally, deeply, about how hard it is to deal with an injury. We've been together and had a couple very successful years in Houston. There are all good memories.

"We should respect him, what he's done for Houston."

Hayes, who played with McGrady for five seasons, tended to agree with Yao's assessment.

Some cheers expected

"I think there'll be some cheers," Hayes said. "He was the leader of this team. It's just that the last perception here was bad, but if you look before that, when he was healthy, he was a bad boy here."

Now a member of the latter day Bad Boys, McGrady has had some of his better performances in situations similar to tonight's, scoring 26 points in his first game with the Knicks and 13 in a quarter in his first game against them.

In his first game against the Rockets, he had 15 points with seven rebounds and five assists in a 116-112 Rockets win at Madison Square Garden.

Adelman shows support

Though McGrady is still making his way back from the injury, Rockets coach Rick Adelman did not seem to feel vindication after taking a great deal of criticism for his position that McGrady was not ready for a larger role a year ago. Adelman even defended McGrady for so vehemently lobbying for more last season.

"I knew he wasn't 100 percent," Adelman said. "It was unfair to him. He just wanted to play.

"You hope he gets better as he goes on, but last year he was not ready to play."

The Rockets plan no special tribute, as they did when Carl Landry returned last season. McGrady is, however, all over the pregame video and has been celebrated at least once upon his return to the Toyota Center court during a game between the Rockets and Pistons.

"His last impression was a sour one with this organization, but you can't deny what he did here or the load that he carried," Hayes said. "Even in our intro that shows the history of the Rockets, they show him in there. They're paying him respects. Hopefully, the fans do the same."